Visiting Seattle - where should we eat?

Hello Seattle Hounders! I'm coming to Seattle this week for the first time in a decade, and I'm seeking recommendations for food and drink. I'll be staying downtown, although I will have a car. Is there a place (either fancy or plain) that we shouldn't miss? How about a good cocktail bar?

The craft cocktail movement is in full flower in Seattle. To Natalie’s list I would add Taste (I have written often and flatteringly of Duncan Chase’s artistry and knowledge on Chowhound’s Seattle and Pacific Northwest boards), Sambar, Liberty, Rob Roy, Tini Biggs, and Poppy. Poppy is much discussed on the Seattle board, but mostly with respect to the food. However, the cocktails at Poppy are both imaginative and wonderful. At the top of everyone’s list of places for cocktails, however, is Zig Zag. Murray Stenson is universally revered as King of the Hill among Seattle mixologists.

Other than mentioning Corson Building, I won’t even start on adding to the list of restaurant choices. The places Natalie mentions are fine, but you need to do some homework, read the information that already exists on the Seattle Board and Pacific Northwest Board (from which the Seattle Board was recently split off), and then come back with more focused questions regarding food choices.

You might want to try How to Cook a Wolf...I take all of my visitors there. It has excellent food which is locally sourced (when possible) and it's not super expensive. Wine list is heavily Italian, but most people can find something they like. It's really small, no reservations but I've always found it worth the wait and there are a number of places to grab a drink on upper Queen Anne until your table is ready.

I am not a Crush fan, so I would skip that in a NY minute. I could do Corson Building in place of Crush and you can never go wrong with Canlis (if you're on an expense account). Place Pigalle, Maximillians at the Market, Matts at the Market and other Pike Place offerings are also great for less formal fare.

Thanks, all. Sorry I can't be more specific with my questions - I'm just not that tied to one direction or another. I do eat meat, but I also love seafood. I like fine dining, but I like a good diner. I'm staying near Pike Place, but I have a car. Happily, we're staying next to Lola's and Dahlia bakery, which can take a girl a good ways.

And, truly, the Pike Place Market is a sure pleasure, and not your ordinary Rouse development (Faneuil Hall, et al.). By charter, no chain-stores are permitted. True enough, some of these providers are so natively fabulous, they must expand beyond their borders (e.g. Starbucks #1 is there), but, even there, chaineyness is elaborately limited. I shan't go into the little-old-ladyness that rules the Pike Place Development Authority, but you will get a view to Seattle history, there, even as it contines to mature.